Is your child Ready to Learn?

Apr. 21, 2013

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Alexas Tinsley follows along as she listens to a book in her classroom at Shady Dell Early Childhood Center on Wednesday. 'Many of our students don't have what I would call a fair opportunity to learn and therefore struggle, as far as being ready for kindergarten,' Superintendent Norm Ridder said. / Valerie Mosley/News-Leader

Every Child — Ready to Learn

A joint project of KY3 and the Springfield News-Leader to help the community understand the need for improved early childhood education in the Ozarks. Today: Part 1: The need for better preschool programs Watch Ashley Reynolds’ report at 10 p.m. on KY3. Monday: Helping parents prepare their children for kindergarten Tuesday: Faith-based programs are option for many Part 2 — April 28-30: A look at how other communities are putting their children to the front of the class. Part 3 — May 5-6: What community leaders here believe needs to be done to help our children be Ready to Learn For complete coverage go online at www.news-leader.com/ ReadyToLearn and at www.ky3.com/news/education.

Early childhood research

• Low-income 4- and 5-year-old children are 12-14 months below national norms in language development (1993 Observational Study of Early Childhood Programs by Jean Layzer) • Research shows that for every dollar invested in high-quality early learning today, savings range from $2.50 to $17 in the years ahead. (The Institute for a Competitive Workforce, a non-profit affiliated with U.S. Chamber of Commerce) • Nationally, about three-quarters of children from upper-income families – but only half of children from low-income families — are enrolled in public or private pre-K. (Benefits for Prekindergarten for Middle-Income Children, National Institute for Early Education Research) • Low-income children hear 3 million words a year, while middle-income children hear 6 million and upper-income children hear 11 million. (Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children, 1995)

Readiness for Kindergarten

In early 2011, the Mayor’s Commission for Children announced results of the 2010 kindergarten readiness study — which focused on children in Fair Grove, Republic, Strafford and Springfield — and compared the results against a baseline established during a 2006 study involving nine area districts. The study showed: • Readiness levels didn’t change significantly from 2006 to 2010. • 20 percent continue to start school “lacking the skills to succeed” • Slight improvement in social and emotional skill readiness indicated children were better prepared to share, take turns, follow instructions and make friends. • While academic readiness scores — as measured by the DIAL-3 assessment tool — remained about the same, the study showed that girls are better prepared than boys. Children from low-income families and those who don’t attend some type of high-quality preschool are less prepared. The study was administered by Missouri State University’s Center for Research and Service and the Mayor’s Commission for Children. Results for the 2006 and 2010 studies can be found at www.redwagonkids.net.

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They can’t write their own names.

They can’t sing the ABCs or count to 10.

They can’t line up, ask a question or sit quietly to listen to a story.

That can set children up for failure later on. Repercussions for falling behind in school can be dire and lead to “lifetime poverty,” legal trouble, early pregnancy and lack of self-sufficiency.

“We have way too many kids who go to school ill-prepared to be successful in kindergarten, and that plays itself out, not only throughout their school career, but throughout their life,” said State Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro. “... We know very clearly that children who aren’t successful in school end up going down paths we don’t want them to go down.”

Too few Springfield children have access to affordable, high-quality preschool programs with certified teachers and a curriculum aimed at building a strong foundation for school success. In Dishman’s class — located in a high-poverty part of the city — only six of 21 students went to a preschool.

“(Preschool) gives them a leg up because they can hit the ground running. They know their letters and sounds, so we can start laying the groundwork for reading,” Dishman said. “They come in and they know what school is about.”

A 2010 study by the Mayor’s Commission for Children showed one out of every five local children is “not prepared” for kindergarten. That number is even higher among children in families that straddle the poverty line.

Children without quality early childhood experiences lack the social, emotional and basic academic skills necessary to function in a classroom setting so they can participate, follow simple instructions and learn alongside their peers.

Denise Bredfeldt, executive director for the Mayor’s Commission for Children, said quality preschools go a long way to bridge the gap for children whose parents can’t or won’t — or simply don’t have the time to — prepare them for success in school.

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“Some parents didn’t have a good experience in school, and they don’t see it as a necessity,” she said. “... We know that kids who go to preschool are better off than children who don’t have the parent support.”

Nicastro said Springfield’s numbers mirror what’s happening at the state and national levels.

“The bottom line is that we need to make sure each and every child is prepared to enter kindergarten ready for success, and that is simply not happening,” Nicastro said.

She said any efforts that can be made on the “front end” to boost a child’s academic chances will pay off.

“Everything else ultimately hinges on how well our kids do,” she said. “And the earlier they start, the better chance they have at being a success.”

So why is a strong start so important?

Expectations for kindergarten have ramped up. Nap time, for example, is gone.

By the end of that school year, kids are expected to be able to read and write simple sentences. They must count to 30. They have to add and subtract to the number 5.

Teachers worry that children who start behind are in danger of staying behind.

Dishman, 34, said skills she learned at the end of first grade — more than two decades ago — are now taught in kindergarten. “We ask a lot of these little guys,” she said.

Missy Riley, director of early childhood and Parents As Teachers for Springfield Public Schools, said children who aren’t ready require a lot of help in the early weeks of the school year. They can also be disruptive.

“One out of five kids in a kindergarten classroom of 20 is four children, and when you have those four children who are taking up 80 to 90 percent of your time … that’s really the difficult part,” Riley said. “That’s where weeks or months of every school year are lost getting those one out of every five children ready to learn.”

Early childhood experts explain that the bulk of brain development happens before age 5, and not working with young children — either at home or in a classroom — is a missed opportunity. They cite research that shows children benefit if they are exposed to a language-rich environment where they are engaged in learning and have meaningful interactions and life experiences.

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Ron Lankford, the state’s deputy commissioner for fiscal and administrative services, said not all children have the same opportunities to learn.

“If you and I are next-door neighbors or we live in the same community and we have equal intelligences, sometimes the life — the experiential things — is what separates us, how people perceive us and our ability level,” he said.

He argues that every child should have access to early childhood experiences that prepare them for success.

“For some children, the only opportunity they’ve got for opportunities is in preschool,” he said. “Some of these kids, it’s the only jump-start they’re going to have.”

Springfield has a patchwork of public, private and faith-based preschool programs that stretch to all corners of the city. Still, big gaps exist.

Lately, funding for public programs has been uncertain. Head Start is trying to figure out how to absorb cuts for next year. The number of classrooms for Wonder Years, the district’s program for academically at-risk children, went from an all-time high of 24 last year to 17 for this school year.

Research shows that children benefit if they have access to high-quality preschool programs with well-trained teachers and a curriculum that develops social and academic skills. But, judging from ample waiting lists that exist for the public preschool programs, not every child has a spot.

State funding for the Missouri Preschool Project was cut by nearly 30 percent last year, and federal funding streams, which make the majority of local preschool programs possible, have been unpredictable in recent years.

Superintendent Norm Ridder said that of the estimated 2,200 4-year-olds living in Springfield, 400 to 500 are caught “in between” because their families don’t qualify for public programs — which have strict income guidelines or primarily serve children with special needs or academic deficiencies — or they lack the funding or transportation necessary to access high-quality private programs.

“Many of our students don’t have what I would call a fair opportunity to learn and therefore struggle, as far as being ready for kindergarten,” he said.

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Meghan MacLain moved to Springfield from Georgia, where public pre-K programs are plentiful.

She works full time and was able to place her 5-year-old son, Rashaun, in a preschool classroom at the Springfield school district’s Shady Dell Early Childhood Center.

“I knew he needed to get ready for kindergarten and I couldn’t teach him everything,” said MacLain, 29. “He didn’t want to leave once we came here. He fell in love with his teacher.”

Cuddling next to his mother in the center’s library, Rashaun repeatedly uses the word “play” to describe a typical day in his classroom.

“We play in our room. I usually play with balls,” he said. “We sit on a carpet. We have books to read. We have to be quiet and that makes us ready.”

Kristy Brewer worried her oldest child, Dominick, 5, would struggle in a kindergarten classroom if he didn’t know what was expected. She enrolled him in the district’s preschool program called Wonder Years.

“We needed something to help him get ready,” said Brewer, a stay-at-home mom.

Brewer, who has two younger children, wanted Dominick to be around children his own age and learn how to spell, sing songs and get along with others.

“He’s definitely different,” she said. “… He’s more sociable. He’s definitely calmed down a little since we put him in here. He will be more prepared.”

Kindergarten readiness is on the minds of Springfield school officials and city leaders looking for ways to help the young so they’re successful in school.